This thesis crosses the research fields of cultural policy and urban design, and examines the policies and political contexts of a new globally significant experiment in creative city development: the Seoul Digital Media City (DMC). The DMC is a newly built urban district, intentionally structured as a creative cluster. This research investigation opens by considering the concept of 'creativity', and the way it has recently animated national policies for urban, economic, as well as cultural, development. Throughout this thesis, the ever-present conundrum of 'East-West' cultural interchange persists, and the thesis attends to the challenges for research in understanding how major Western policy trends (like 'creative city' and 'creative cluster') are received, adapted and implemented, all the while subject to the specific requiremenets of national Asian policy aspirations. The thesis traces the developmental trajectory of the DMC project, and in the context of explaining its rationale, it conveys the various ways in which the DMC articulates a confluence of political ideals. It presents the main discursive influences of the Creative City trend on South Korea and particularly the municipal government of its capital, Seoul. It explains the political and economic contexts on which Creative City discourse has gained traction, along with the significance of the subsequent 'Korean Wave' phenomenon. Largely from an engagement with the literature of the creative city discourse, this thesis articulates fresh criteria for an empirical analysis of the DMC, suitably contextualized by observations on the local contexts of Seoul city urban development and planning. These criteria are used in a case analysis examination of the DMC, which in turn generate further discussion on the implications for adapting Western Creative City policies. The central dimension of the case analysis concerns the assessment of the 'creative' content of the DMC, and the terms by which we can define the DMC as creative. The case analysis, however, demonstrates that 'creativity' in the DMC is both compromised and fraught with conceptual paradoxes, particularly with regard the issues of authenticity and identity. Nonetheless, the thesis suggests ways in which a substantive role for arts and culture could provide pathways for development.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:690487 |
| Date | January 2015 |
| Creators | Song, Junmin |
| Publisher | University of Warwick |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/80226/ |
Page generated in 0.002 seconds